Camouflage material



April c. s. SCHOFIELD I 2,278,898

CAMOUFLAGE MATERIAL Filed April 24. 1941 ma m7 Patented Apr. 7, 1942 UNlTED STTES PATEN OFFICE Application April 24, 1941, Serial No. 390,209 In Great Britain October 28, 1939 a Claims.

This invention relates to camouflage materials.

There is a need to-day for a camouflage material which is pliable so that it can be made to take up any desired shape in use and so that it can be stored conveniently, for example in the form of rolls, which can withstand rough usage and which is fireproof and weather-resistant. The main object of the invention is to provide such a material.

Another object of the invention is to render steel or other metal wool suitable for camouflage purposes.

Yet another object of the invention is so to combine steel or other metal wool with a wire mesh base as to provide an excellent camouflage material.

I have discovered that steel or other metal wool attached to a base of wire netting or similar open-mesh'material forms an excellent camouflage material and is adequately resistant to ing to such an extent as to cause it to break up into small pieces which will not hold together. It is very difficult to paint it effectively because paint will not adhere to its very fine edges. The difliculty is however wholly removed if the steel wool is provided with an insoluble phosphate coating. Such a coating may be applied in any suitable way, but particularly advantageously by the well-known Parkerizing process.

When steel wool isParkerized, there is no difficulty in painting it and the resultant material is one which, for camouflage purposes, has surpassed all expectations.

I prefer to form the phosphate coating after the steel wool has been attached to the wire netting or other base, and then both are coated together. The coated material may be painted by spraying or dipping.

In order that the invention may be properly understood and be more readily carried into effect, it will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows a sheet of wire netting partly covered with steel wool, and

Figure 2 is a cross-section through the sheet shown in Figure 1 but drawn to a larger scale.

As shown in Figural, the materialis made up of a base of wire netting I having hexagonal meshes to which is attached steel wool 2 by means of wire loops 3.

The wire netting is of the ordinary galvanised kind commonly known as chicken-run-wire. The steel wool is supplied to it by being teased and distributed over the surface of the wire netting and when so distributed is secured to the wire netting by means of the wire loops 3.. It will be seen that these loops 3 are lengths of wire which pass throughtwo non-adjacent meshes of the wire netting and as they connect two opposed apices of the hexagonal meshes they cannot move once they are in position. This is of importance because thereis then no tendency for the loops, by moving relatively to the wire netting, to produce abrasion of the steel wool. The loops can be inserted by hand or by means of a simple machine of the kind used for clipping articles together by means of wire staples or stitches.

The netting may advantageously be used in the form of rolls which can, for example, contain 25 yards of netting having a, width of 6 feet. The rolls are first thoroughly degreased and are then subjected in a rotary drum to the action of the aqueous acid phosphate solution which is characteristic of the Parkerizing process. The rolls are then painted; the painting can be carried out by dipping the rolls or by spraying them. The material need not be painted the same colour all over and different kinds of paint may be used for different parts of it so that light is differently reflected from different parts.

The amount of steel wool used per unit area of the base can be varied within wide limits according to the result which is to be produced. Where the material is to be used for long distance camouflage, it can be applied to the base sparingly at 6 oz. to the square yard; where it is to be used for short distance camouflage as much as 2 lb. to the square yard can be used. The gauge of the wire netting is not generally important as long as the netting is strong enough to carry its load and to stand up to wear and tear. No. 19 gauge, 2 inch mesh, galvanized netting is generally satisfactory. 1

The material in accordance with the invention will generally be used to imitate grass and it is found that really excellent results can be obtained if the steel wool which is used is made up of both coarse and fine gauge material. The fine gauge wool is applied first and the coarse gauge wool on top of it. If the material is intended to give the appearance of grass, it is adinfra-red rays in the same manner as does grass. so that its presence cannot be detected by infrared photography.

I claim: v

1. Camouflage material comprising an openmesh metal material and metal wool, said metal wool beingfurnished with an insoluble phosphate coating and attached to said open-mesh material to substantially cover the same.

2. Camouflage material comprising wire netting and steel wool, said steel wool being furnished with an insoluble phosphate coating and attached to said open-mesh material throughout substantial areas.

3. Camouflage material comprising wire netting and metal wool, said metal wool being attached to said wire netting to substantially cover the same, and the whole material having a rustproof coating. 1 V

4. Camouflage material comprising an openmesh metal material and a coating of metal wool, I

said metal wool being furnished with an insoluble phosphate "coating, and a plurality of wire staples securing said metal wool to said openmesh material.

vis'able to paint it with a-paint which will reflect 5. Camouflage material comprising an openmesh metal material and metal wool said metal wool being furnished with an insoluble phosphate coating, and wire loops securing said metal wool to said open-mesh material throughout substantial areas and passing through non-adja v cent meshes in said open-mesh material and held against movement by said meshes.

6. Camouflage material comprising an openmesh metal material and metal wool, said metal wool being a mixture of fine and coarse wool having a rustproof coating and being attached to said open-mesh material to substantially cover the same.

7. Camouflage material comprising wire netting and a covering of Parkerized steel wool attached to said netting.

8. Camouflage material made to imitate grass and comprising wire netting and a covering of steel wool, said steel wool being provided with an insoluble phosphate coating and attached to said netting, and the whole material bearing a paint coating capable of reflecting infra-red rays.

CECIL S'I'RAT'I-IMORE SCI-IOFIELD. 

